That's What Little Brothers Are For
by Initial A
Summary: February 24, 2014 Regina doesn't have to look up to know which one of her self-appointed babysitters is entering her office now. His bootheels are heavier than the soft courtier's boots Mother fitted him with as a teen, but Regina knows her little brother's gait anywhere. {Nightminds: Children of Darkness AU} {Hooked Queen siblings}


**This is a UA of idoltina's universe _Nightminds_ , on AO3. I highly recommend you read it! There's two parts, _Wildfire_ and _Pyriscence_.**

 **Canon divergence after 4A, everything is the same except Regina and Killian are siblings.**

* * *

Regina doesn't have to look up to know which one of her self-appointed babysitters is entering her office now. His bootheels are heavier than the soft courtier's boots Mother fitted him with as a teen, but Regina knows her little brother's gait anywhere. "You're interrupting me," she says, running her finger down the instructions list in the worn spellbook.

"Aye, and when's the last time you've eaten?" Killian asks, setting a paper bag from Granny's down on the table - out of the way, thankfully.

She doesn't have the extra magical reserves to turn him into a toad today.

"I had breakfast," Regina informs him, picking up her mortar and pestle to grind the dried bitterroot petals. "Every note on the nutrition plan followed to a T, thank you very much."

"And when's the last time you so much as glanced at a clock?"

Regina's eyes dart up to look at him; Killian's watching her with that patient exasperation she knows so well, that one eyebrow raised in expectation. "I..."

She twists, searching for a clock - there. "It's," she begins, then falters, shoulders slumping. It's been hours.

"Thought so. Sit, eat," he orders, shuffling around the table to help her to the couch; he takes her hand in his, his arm going around her waist. Despite her rising annoyance, she notices the point of his hook is carefully turned away from the swell of her belly.

"I'm not an invalid," Regina snaps, but his grip just tightens until they make it to the couch.

"'Course you're not," Killian says somewhere behind her. She hears the rustling of the take away bag, then it's deposited on the coffee table in front of her. "However, given that you're running yourself ragged over this newest villain _and_ you're carrying my future niece, I merely offered my assistance in making sure you keep your strength up."

Regina scoffs, reaching for the bag. Killian takes up far more space than necessary when he sits in one of the chairs, one leg propped over the side. "Are you done doing the alpha male posturing thing?" she asks pointedly, pulling out a french fry and biting into one end.

He just grins at her and slouches down further in the seat, trying to prove some sort of point - he's the one that's going to have to deal with the sore back later. She'd never picked out those chairs for comfort, after all.

She feels self-conscious as she's the only one eating - _thanks, Mother_ \- but he knows better than to watch her. She can see his eyes following lines in the trees and vines patterns on the walls and the ceiling, amusing himself while she eats. "What are you going to call her?" he asks abruptly, his head tilting back, back, back as he follows the lines of some vines to the end of a maze of his own creation.

"Excuse you?" Regina asks.

"The baby. They do typically receive names," Killian says, lifting his head to meet her gaze.

She busies herself with a napkin, keenly aware that he's not going to give up this train of thought until he has an answer. They've played this game many times. "We haven't decided yet," she says shortly.

"I seem to recall many a lad telling me that _Killian_ sounds like a girl's name," he remarks, the ghost of a smirk playing at the corners of his lips and a droll arch to that damned eyebrow. She should have cursed it off decades ago.

"We're not naming our daughter after _you_ , little brother," Regina informs him dryly.

" _Younger_ brother," he corrects her, but there's no heat to it like there normally is. His tone is soft, almost wistful.

Regina glances up, concern making her frown. He's fiddling with his necklaces, his hooked arm draped over the leg propped up on the side of the chair; his eyes are on the rug but she knows his mind isn't focused on the patterns this time. She remembers another, someone else who called him little brother.

She finds herself wondering how often Killian relives the day their older brother died. She wonders how it would have affected her, if she'd found out how he'd died sooner, rather than David's slip of the tongue in Neverland. She can't even blame Mother for keeping it from her - Regina had already married Leopold when her brothers sailed for Neverland, had already pushed Mother through the looking glass. The only thing Regina knew was that the _Jewel of the Realm_ had been taken by pirates.

She thought she'd been seeing a ghost that day in her dungeon. Instead it was her little brother: alive and short of hair, with eyes hardened by vengeance and aged beyond his years.

She wonders what she would have done had she found out earlier that her husband sent her brothers to die.

"Robin and I talked about that," Regina says quietly. "Liam."

Its quick, the corners of his mouth briefly lifted in a tight smile - a placebo to make her think he's okay, but he's her brother.

She knows better.

Regina gets to her feet. The baby moves and Regina pauses, one hand resting on her back and the other draping over her belly while the baby decides which way to sit. Killian moves as if to get up, his eyes widening with concern, but she waves him off. "She's just moving, it's okay. Anyway, she's not going to be here for months yet. We have a long time to decide on names. Now, pirate, are you going to make yourself useful or are you going to wallow?"

* * *

The problem with naming children after the dead, she and Robin had ultimately decided, is that there are so many to choose from. You're never sure who you might offend. Their combined list of lost loved ones is so long that they're not even sure where to start narrowing things down. "Nudge that brother of yours along," Robin had said. "It would be more fitting if his and Emma's son were named for your brother."

Regina had laughed. "I don't think it's _Killian_ that needs any nudging, have you _met_ our sheriff?"

Perhaps it's for the best if they give their daughter a blank slate. She's their hope, after all. Their second chance, personified. She deserves to have a fresh start in the world with no expectations to live up to.

* * *

She's putting her brother to work mixing dry ingredients into a bowl when it happens.

There's a familiar flutter and it takes her a second or two to register what it means. Regina steps back from the table, away from all of her metal instruments, and winces as lightning arches from her hands towards the ring stand. She takes several larger steps back, breathing a sigh of relief when the lightning dies before it can connect with anything. She closes her eyes, leaning against the (magically protected) wall as the baby continues to hiccup.

This has been happening more and more frequently. Baby hiccups, magic spirals out of her control. She's usually better at handling it, preventing little breakouts like this, but she _has_ been running herself a little more ragged than she should...

"Regina, what is it?" Killian asks. His tone makes her open her eyes again; fear makes him look younger than she's seen him in years. "I thought this -"

"It's fine," she says tiredly. She leans her head back, closing her eyes again. "I'm just... just stay back. Can't have you getting electrocuted."

"Regina -"

"Killian, for once in your life do as I say," she snaps, out of patience for the day.

There's no argument from him and that alone is enough to make her look at him again. He's staring off to the side with a sullen look on his face, the muscle in his jaw jumping as he runs his thumb over the worn metal of his ring - a trifecta of tells. She sighs. "It's magical. The baby has the hiccups."

Killian glances at her sharply. "How can a baby have hiccups when it's not even been born?"

Regina waves her hand in annoyance and another spark flies from her fingers. "I don't know, I'm not the sister you should ask about that," she grouses, momentarily forgetting that Zelena is not only dead but only pretended at being a midwife.

She looks down, trying to breathe and regain control on her wayward emotions. There's footsteps as he takes a few steps forward. "So the baby is... doing this? Again?"

"Yes. And you have a lightning rod for a hand, so unless you want to complete the punk rocker look with spiked hair I would advise you to stand back."

There's a tense moment where she thinks he won't listen, but he does take a step back. Regina sighs with relief, lifting her hand to brush her hair back -

Another bolt flies from her fingers, a mistake in control she hasn't made in over thirty years. All the lightning before has clung to her and yet -

Killian blocks his face with his hand, the same hand the bolt hits and vanishes into. Regina holds her breath, waiting for some acknowledgement of pain, but it never comes. His hand drops slightly, his brows knit in confusion. Regina understands the sentiment. "Wait, you..."

"It didn't hurt?" he asks, as if he's unsure it happened at all.

"Can you move?" Regina asks.

His arm drops to his side, fingers clenching and flexing, a perplexed look on his face. "I feel... bloody hell, I feel fine."

She runs down a mental list of potential reasons why, but he's crouching down in front of her, an absurd grin on his face. "I think she knows who I am," he says, glancing up as he raises his hand to hover over her belly.

Regina nods her permission even as she scoffs. "Don't be absurd, Hook, how can she -"

There's a trickle of tiny lightning bolts dancing around his rings and Killian's grinning from ear to ear. "Look, Regina, she already likes me," he says.

She softens a little - he sounds fifteen again, overeager and ready to follow after Liam to join the Navy. "She doesn't know any better," Regina says instead.

"You should definitely name her Killian," he tells her. "After her favorite uncle."

As if to agree with him, the baby kicks him right in the palm. Killian's eyes light up and Regina fights the urge to give in to dramatics or say something that might be too cruel. "You are never babysitting for us," she says instead.

"I think we'll let the little lass decide, sister dear."

There's a headache brewing behind her eyes that has nothing to do with their latest villain or magic - she supposes that's what little brothers are for.


End file.
